Around Us 02-02-10

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, February 1, 2010

FRITCH — A 16-year-old Fritch boy died over the weekend of injuries suffered in a sledding accident, and authorities are considering whether to charge a man involved in the fatality.

Claude Alan Hampton died about noon Saturday at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. Authorities said he suffered head and neck injuries the day before when the car hood he was using as a sled slammed into a telephone pole on Santa Fe Trail near Fritch in Carson County.

A 37-year-old Fritch man was driving a 1997 Chevrolet pickup that was towing the car hood through the snow.

A 16-year-old girl also was on the sled at the time. Trooper Gabriel Medrano said the car hood veered off the roadway, striking the telephone pole. Medrano said charges are pending against the driver.

It’s not clear how fast the pickup was traveling when towing the two teens, but the speed limit on Santa Fe Trail is 30 mph. — Amarillo Globe-News

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LUBBOCK — The shooting in a Wal-Mart parking lot earlier this month was self-defense, the suspect’s girlfriend told police.

Sultan Al-Bizri’s girlfriend said she was in his vehicle early Jan. 23 when he shot Michael Devon Napper five times, court documents released Monday show.

Napper, 20, was shot in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in the 700 block of West Loop 289 by a man he said rear-ended him just before midnight at a nearby Taco Bell. Napper said he followed the man and confronted him, which is when the man rolled his window up, Napper said. Napper said he knocked on the window, and the man rolled it back down and started shooting.

Al-Bizri remained jailed Monday in lieu of a $500,000 bond for assault, $5,000 for felony possession of a firearm and $750 for possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, according to jail records.

It’s not the first time he’s been arrested. Harris County court records show Al-Bizri, who is listed as being from Humble, was charged in 2005 with possession of a controlled substance in a drug-free zone and possession of marijuana.

Al-Bizri has been in the Lubbock area since at least fall 2007 when he started classes at South Plains College. School records show he is a sophomore taking pre-engineering courses.

In the first incident, a man approached patrol officers about 2:45 p.m. at the intersection of Amarillo Boulevard and Lincoln Street and told them he had been shot in the leg, police Cpl. Jerry Neufeld said.

The victim gave an address where he said the shooting took place, but investigators found no evidence of the shooting there, Neufeld said. Police said they think the victim was an innocent bystander in the shooting.

The second shooting call came in about 3:50 p.m. from a man in Thompson Memorial Park at North 24th Avenue and Dumas Drive. The victim suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, police said.

Police did not identify the victim, but a friend of the wounded man identified him as Devarius Jones, 21. Officers found him in a 1980s model Cadillac parked facing east on Horseshoe Lane, a westbound one-way street.

Patrol officer V.C. Smith said the victim was shot in the park and taken by ambulance to Northwest Texas Hospital.

Neufeld said the shootings are being investigated separately. — Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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AMARILLO — Amarillo College has named a new dean who will focus on training needs of area businesses and industries.

Shawn Fouts has been named dean of career and technical education and will set up his headquarters on Amarillo College’s East Campus.

Since 2008, Fouts has served as corporate development consultant in AC’s work force and economic development division.

Fouts received his doctoral degree in higher education from Texas Tech University in 2005. He also has degrees from Nazarene Bible College and MidAmerica Nazarene University. — Amarillo Globe-News